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When Gnome Roams Naptown Will Follow (2012)

Once again the Roaming Gnome has hit the road for a series of Pacers games. By now he should be in Nevada and prepping to make the Vegas to LA drive for the Lakers game with his wife. He didn't mention where the seats are in Staples but maybe he'll pop on here and clue us in.

After LA he'll fly up to San Fran where I'll meet them for some wine country fun before hitting the Cow Town itself, Sacramento. For that game we have pretty good seats on the sideline within the first few rows. I will not be bringing a cowbell, but maybe Gnome and wield his charms and get the Maloofs to comp us some Vegas deals for making the effort.

From there will be hotfooting it back over to SF so Gnome can attempt a whirlwind tour of the City before going back over the Bay to Oaktown's Oracle, one of the crown jewels of the NBA in terms of classic environments. Right now I'd say OKC, MSG, Boston and Oakland are the places to see games outside of the Fieldhouse, so I'm pretty pumped. It's not like the arena is fresh and new, but I anticipate a lively, involved crowd. Once again we will have great seats, should be row 4 on the sidelines but with everyone in blue and gold it might be tough to tell.

Anyway, I'll do my best with photos but I've discovered over the last few seasons that each arena has it's own rules that vary wildly from place to place. The Fieldhouse has been one of the more forgiving arenas when it comes to cameras. Pretty disappointing when half the reason for the road trip is to check out the other arenas.

Re: When Gnome Roams Naptown Will Follow (2012)

Once again the Roaming Gnome has hit the road for a series of Pacers games. By now he should be in Nevada and prepping to make the Vegas to LA drive for the Lakers game with his wife. He didn't mention where the seats are in Staples but maybe he'll pop on here and clue us in.

After LA he'll fly up to San Fran where I'll meet them for some wine country fun before hitting the Cow Town itself, Sacramento. For that game we have pretty good seats on the sideline within the first few rows. I will not be bringing a cowbell, but maybe Gnome and wield his charms and get the Maloofs to comp us some Vegas deals for making the effort.

From there will be hotfooting it back over to SF so Gnome can attempt a whirlwind tour of the City before going back over the Bay to Oaktown's Oracle, one of the crown jewels of the NBA in terms of classic environments. Right now I'd say OKC, MSG, Boston and Oakland are the places to see games outside of the Fieldhouse, so I'm pretty pumped. It's not like the arena is fresh and new, but I anticipate a lively, involved crowd. Once again we will have great seats, should be row 4 on the sidelines but with everyone in blue and gold it might be tough to tell.

Anyway, I'll do my best with photos but I've discovered over the last few seasons that each arena has it's own rules that vary wildly from place to place. The Fieldhouse has been one of the more forgiving arenas when it comes to cameras. Pretty disappointing when half the reason for the road trip is to check out the other arenas.

Have you guys ever actually seen the Pacers win a game on the road?

Have fun, I'm sure that Gnome will let everyone in the general area know that you are Pacers fans. Just make sure he doesn't start booing during the National Anthem, they may take it the wrong way.

Basketball isn't played with computers, spreadsheets, and simulations. ChicagoJ 4/21/13

Re: When Gnome Roams Naptown Will Follow (2012)

Once again the Roaming Gnome has hit the road for a series of Pacers games. By now he should be in Nevada and prepping to make the Vegas to LA drive for the Lakers game with his wife. He didn't mention where the seats are in Staples but maybe he'll pop on here and clue us in.

After LA he'll fly up to San Fran where I'll meet them for some wine country fun before hitting the Cow Town itself, Sacramento. For that game we have pretty good seats on the sideline within the first few rows. I will not be bringing a cowbell, but maybe Gnome and wield his charms and get the Maloofs to comp us some Vegas deals for making the effort.

From there will be hotfooting it back over to SF so Gnome can attempt a whirlwind tour of the City before going back over the Bay to Oaktown's Oracle, one of the crown jewels of the NBA in terms of classic environments. Right now I'd say OKC, MSG, Boston and Oakland are the places to see games outside of the Fieldhouse, so I'm pretty pumped. It's not like the arena is fresh and new, but I anticipate a lively, involved crowd. Once again we will have great seats, should be row 4 on the sidelines but with everyone in blue and gold it might be tough to tell.

Anyway, I'll do my best with photos but I've discovered over the last few seasons that each arena has it's own rules that vary wildly from place to place. The Fieldhouse has been one of the more forgiving arenas when it comes to cameras. Pretty disappointing when half the reason for the road trip is to check out the other arenas.

I think The Barclays center can be added to that list that arena looks amazing and in the games I have seen the atmosphere has been amazing. Sleep Train Arena (Arco) looks like a dump but the fans are normally great. Agree on GS that place is amazing watching on TV the crowd is great one of the few places you feel like you are at the game watching that is how loud that crowd is.

Re: When Gnome Roams Naptown Will Follow (2012)

I think The Barclays center can be added to that list that arena looks amazing and in the games I have seen the atmosphere has been amazing. Sleep Train Arena (Arco) looks like a dump but the fans are normally great. Agree on GS that place is amazing watching on TV the crowd is great one of the few places you feel like you are at the game watching that is how loud that crowd is.

Arco Arena is small....DAMN small...hence why it's really loud. I went to the SacTown Pacer game a few years back....it was loud...but small. The fans are dedicated....but I will say that it was the only game that I have ever gone to where there was a rowdy and irritating fan that had no problem bothering me cuz I was rooting for the opposing team. This is likely an isolated incident......but keeping in mind that I am always in "enemy territory" when I go to see a Pacers games ( I live in the SF Bay Area and can only go to Warriors/Pacers games )....no one has ever bothered me....except when I went to the one Kings game.

Ash from Army of Darkness: Good...Bad...I'm the guy with the gun.

This is David West, he is the Honey Badger, West just doesn't give a *****....he's pretty bad *ss cuz he has no regard for any other Player or Team whatsoever.

Re: When Gnome Roams Naptown Will Follow (2012)

Now, having posted that I figured this would be a good place to post photos from my earlier solo trip up to Minneapolis. Some of the more observant PD'ers noticed my choice seat for that horrible experience. Nothing in the world compares to the utter defeat you feel when an entire arena celebrates the last-second layup win over your team.

I'm getting used to it by this point. Here's my record the last 3 years:

10-11
DAL - loss, down 10 most of the night (Gnome had been in OKC before this for a real slaughter)
HOU - lost by 30 or something and then had the post-game locker room fight, the low point of the Vogel era

11-12
SAS - loss, down 10ish for the most part but played a spirited game and had some chances
HOU - should have won easily but ended up needing OT to get it done...finally a road victory

12-13
Minny - not a pretty game, terrible Pacers effort, and pathetic to see how much the Minny fans really thought there team was good without Rubio and Love (they aren't)

So I'm 1-5 at this point, Gnome was 0-3 2 years ago and didn't hit the road last year. Not sure what his record was before that. And it's hard not to think our fortunes aren't about to change. Oh what I wouldn't do for another Hill miracle finish.

Anyway, Minny...

First, the location is great. Minneapolis is nice city with good public transportation and like Indy it has it's sports arenas downtown. My friend lives within walking distance which amplifies this effect. The prior two summers we did Twins games in Target Field and it's awesome.

HOWEVER....the arena just sucks. It's very MSA in the grey cement concourse and low lighting. It feels grungy and has zero character or decorative qualities to it. Plus it's oddly inside another building, meaning you go inside and give them your ticket, and then you move from this non-arena space further along till you actually enter the arena. Almost like a convention center, an old cement convention center. Some paint and decorations would go a long way. I enjoyed the Texas arenas more, especially Dallas.

The arena inside appears smaller, it only has 2 levels with a row of suites in- between. There are bars/Best Locker Room types of areas off of both ends of the arena and with my seat right on the front row I found the amount of foot traffic that had to return from those bar areas and walk virtually in my seat space to be annoying as hell. They don't have aisle space down there and it appears they let A LOT more people interact with those lower level spaces. Also it appears that you can enter the game from one of the bars, meaning they have a street entrance and then you show your ticket to move on into the arena, at least as far as I could figure out.

But enough talk, here's some photos.

They've tried to make some type of special experience by placing giant chair/loveseat types of seating on the arena concourse. Meh.

I did like the color seating with the logo green and black pattern. Note the suites.

Note the sign for the bar above the tunnel. Both ends are like this. Note the very flat, long area of baseline seating which moves fans farther away than BiLF does.

Also I didn't care for the bland cement walls/structure at the top of the arena.

Hey, banners.

For some reason Minny put Chris and Quinn on the opposite side of the court. So there is NO center court front row seating, period. Both sides have scoring/announcing. They offset this with more "by the bench" seats, but when you are 6 seats from the bench is it really better than being center court on the other side? I say no. Note that you can see Brooke standing in a blue skirt waiting to do some pre-game broadcasting.

The one cool thing they do is use the full moon motif. You can see it in the lighted photo, and then with my unfortunately blurry photo you see how they turn out all the lights except for this full moon. The photo has it overexposed so you can't see the moon details, but the effect live is very good. Then the fans all do wolf howls. Pretty cool. Not rocket flies up into scoreboard cool, but pleasantly unique.

Some DJ squaring up. Note the Target branding on the stairs. Looked old and worn to me which added to the sense of cheapness.

A decent pair of shots showing Green getting his jumper away while B Roy tried to close out on him

The infamous AK47 bat wing tattoo. I got a much better look before realizing it might make a good photo. Definitely a head-scratcher choice in my opinion.

Paul gets a little too aggressive on the shot close out, and Aldelman ruins the high price seating.

A couple of shots of Paul squaring off on Chase. The first one has better focus/stability, but the 2nd has better composition. Typical failure in the world of sports photos. So tough to get it just right.

West doing what he does against Pekovic. The game was very physical.

A ruined photo kinda but I like it when some of the action is blurred while other parts are crisply frozen. This one almost works, and pretty much describes every freaking offensive trip for Minny in the 4th quarter.

Best I could do with my view slow lens, the only lens Minny would let me bring in. Hopefully Sacto and/or GSW are more forgiving.

Re: When Gnome Roams Naptown Will Follow (2012)

From there will be hotfooting it back over to SF so Gnome can attempt a whirlwind tour of the City before going back over the Bay to Oaktown's Oracle, one of the crown jewels of the NBA in terms of classic environments. Right now I'd say OKC, MSG, Boston and Oakland are the places to see games outside of the Fieldhouse, so I'm pretty pumped. It's not like the arena is fresh and new, but I anticipate a lively, involved crowd. Once again we will have great seats, should be row 4 on the sidelines but with everyone in blue and gold it might be tough to tell.

Just a FYI......inside the arena and the floor itself....yes, the Oracle Arena has been improved and the atmosphere is much better.....but comparing the concourse area where the food is.....no way is the Arena any better than what ( I imagine ) the Staples Center is setup much less compared to the Fieldhouse. Add in that the Oracle Arena is located in the middle of a bad part of Oakland where you'd have to drive elsewhere in order to get something to eat or drink.....I'd say that the Fieldhouse is WAAAYYYY better than the Oracle Arena.

Also...where are you sitting?

My brother ( you met him when we came to Indy ) got me seats in Section 102 in Row 2....right behind the bench.

Are you going to be sitting right behind the bench again like you normally do?

Anyway, I'll do my best with photos but I've discovered over the last few seasons that each arena has it's own rules that vary wildly from place to place. The Fieldhouse has been one of the more forgiving arenas when it comes to cameras. Pretty disappointing when half the reason for the road trip is to check out the other arenas.

At the Oracle Arena....if you have a DSLR that has a lens that is longer than a standard lens ( as in one that is clearly one of those professional lens ), then there is a 50/50 chance that the Security Guard will tell you that you can't bring it in and that you'd have to bring it back to your car.

Last year, I brought my super zoom lens and the security guard didn't even notice it. But after going to another game that same year....a different security guard said that I couldn't bring it and I had to bring it back to my car. The difference was that the first time that they didn't check.....the lens wasn't attached to the DSLR...whereas the 2nd time that they did notice....the lens was attached to the DSLR. You can bring it....but I'd suggest keeping it separate from the DSLR itself.....while being prepared to bring it back to your car if the Security Guard notices it.

BTW....as a result of this.....I got one of those "all in one" lens that has a super-zoom lens but is the same size as a standard DSLR lens.

Ash from Army of Darkness: Good...Bad...I'm the guy with the gun.

This is David West, he is the Honey Badger, West just doesn't give a *****....he's pretty bad *ss cuz he has no regard for any other Player or Team whatsoever.

Re: When Gnome Roams Naptown Will Follow (2012)

Yes, depending on Fed Ex at least. Seller held the tickets for some reason and finally shipped at the last second.

And we should be in row 4 behind the bench, 3 rows in front of you.

Comes with parking pass which will come in handy if I have camera issues. I'll do the "not attached" approach, maybe put the longer lens in my camera bag and then have the camera out with the default lens on it.

Peck, note my 2nd post where I have our road records listed. I have seen a victory one time. Not sure about Gnome.

The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Roaming Gnome For This Useful Post:

Re: When Gnome Roams Naptown Will Follow (2012)

Also one other funny note. Due half-seasons and to staying in Minny for the weekend which caused me to miss the home game vs Washington that I had tickets for (DOH!), the GSW game will mark the 3rd time I've seen the Pacers on the road (MIN, SAC, GSW) vs seeing them 3 times at home (SAC, DAL, NOH).

Re: When Gnome Roams Naptown Will Follow (2012)

Imawhat - Same old story for me, couldn't get enough free time to pick up the 3rd game like Gnome is.

Gnome, I should have had you bet something for me, but it's hard to enjoy the craps table vicariously. I sure hope they pull off the win in Staples tomorrow. Have you ever been there? I've been by it but never in it.

Re: When Gnome Roams Naptown Will Follow (2012)

Yes, depending on Fed Ex at least. Seller held the tickets for some reason and finally shipped at the last second.

And we should be in row 4 behind the bench, 3 rows in front of you.

Awesome. I checked out the seats when I went to the ( coincidental ) Warriors/TWolves game and the seats in Row 2 are 4 or 5 rows behind the bench. These 4-5 rows are the Courtside A1-A5 seats. The seats that we will be in are still very good....close enough for you to yell at Hibbert when he's getting outmuscled by Carl Landry .

Comes with parking pass which will come in handy if I have camera issues. I'll do the "not attached" approach, maybe put the longer lens in my camera bag and then have the camera out with the default lens on it.

Parking is $20, so yeah.....the parking pass will come in handy. The Security Guard will likely check the camera bag...but hopefully, they won't notice it as much.

Last edited by CableKC; 11-27-2012 at 03:05 AM.

Ash from Army of Darkness: Good...Bad...I'm the guy with the gun.

This is David West, he is the Honey Badger, West just doesn't give a *****....he's pretty bad *ss cuz he has no regard for any other Player or Team whatsoever.

Re: When Gnome Roams Naptown Will Follow (2012)

Hope you enjoy the game, Gnome! Hibbert's had two nice games in a row against the Lakers at Staples.

Seth, Staples is pretty nice, as is the entire LA Live area next to the arena. It's interesting to go to an arena that opened at the same time as BLF but is completely different. It's worth the experience to see a Lakers game, but going to GS is awesome. They have the best fans by a decent margin imo. I'll be curious to hear both of your takes since you've been to OKC, the second best fan environment.

Re: When Gnome Roams Naptown Will Follow (2012)

This is where it begins for us, Here in Las Vegas on the 27th floor at the Planet Hollywood tower.
After I find a Great Clips or Super Cuts (My beard needs some tightening) we will be hitting I-15 for L.A. Right now, I'm thinking about going down to the sports book and seeing what the line is on the Blue & Gold for tonight's game. If it is something crazy like double digits I may be tempted to drop a Benny on the game. I know I'll place some wagers on the games over the weekend when we return to our room here in Vegas. Well, here's to tonight and a Pacer's Victory!

Roaming Gnome's Pacers Road Trip Record
1-5
2 losses in OKC
1 loss in Dallas
1 loss in Houston
1 win in Chicago (Hicks is the good luck charm apparently because he was with me during the only PACERS win.)

Re: When Gnome Roams Naptown Will Follow (2012)

This is where it begins for us, Here in Las Vegas on the 27th floor at the Planet Hollywood tower.
After I find a Great Clips or Super Cuts (My beard needs some tightening) we will be hitting I-15 for L.A. Right now, I'm thinking about going down to the sports book and seeing what the line is on the Blue & Gold for tonight's game. If it is something crazy like double digits I may be tempted to drop a Benny on the game. I know I'll place some wagers on the games over the weekend when we return to our room here in Vegas. Well, here's to tonight and a Pacer's Victory!

Roaming Gnome's Pacers Road Trip Record
1-5
2 losses in OKC
1 loss in Dallas
1 loss in Houston
1 win in Chicago (Hicks is the good luck charm apparently because he was with me during the only PACERS win.)

As a fan of the Pacers that is so dedicated to the team that he is willing to fly out to attend Road games....You know that you are not allowed to bet against your team, right?

Regardless of the spread....I always bet on the Pacers to cover the spread. The only thing I ever do is try to figure out whether to bet over or under

As for your only road win....you know what that means, right? You have to take Hicks with you on your Pacers Road trips.

Ash from Army of Darkness: Good...Bad...I'm the guy with the gun.

This is David West, he is the Honey Badger, West just doesn't give a *****....he's pretty bad *ss cuz he has no regard for any other Player or Team whatsoever.

Re: When Gnome Roams Naptown Will Follow (2012)

Trust me.. I've been bugging Hicks to make one of these long road trips out west. I think him having the worst seat in the NBA at The Palace of Auburn Hills permanently scared him or maybe my driving through Detroit. If I can find that picture of "the worst seat in the NBA" I'll post it. Essentially, it is at the top of the arena with the stairs ending right in front of his seat. Problem was.... The stairs had a handrail anchored right in front of the seat.... So, he had to straddle this handrail to sit in this seat.

Re: When Gnome Roams Naptown Will Follow (2012)

I was going to ask the same thing! I'd like to know what the Pacers W-L record is with you 2 at the same game on the road. I was already more than a little worried about the Blue & Gold going 0-3 on this trip. Now I'm almost expecting it.